Sharks' Matt Pelech scrappy in new role

Sunday

Jan 20, 2013 at 6:00 AM

Matt Pelech had a new position Saturday night and so did some opponents. Prone. Moved to right wing, Pelech created mayhem in the Adirondack end with two tremendous checks in the first two periods and a solid one in the third period.

By Bill Ballou TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Matt Pelech had a new position Saturday night and so did some opponents.

Prone.

Moved to right wing, Pelech created mayhem in the Adirondack end with two tremendous checks in the first two periods and a solid one in the third period.

He was playing on a line with his younger brother, Michael. It marked the first time in the city’s AHL history brothers played in the same game for Worcester.

In the first period, Matt Pelech drove Cullen Eddy into the glass at 8:13, with Eddy skating gingerly to the bench. He returned not long after that and took a regular shift. At 5:20 of the middle period, Matt Pelech nailed Rob Bordson in front of the penalty boxes.

After both checks, Matt Pelech had to fight. Ian Slater was his opponent the first time, and Slater left the ice with blood on his face.

The move to forward for Matt Pelech is an idea that has been brewing for a while. San Jose envisions Pelech as a fighting, hitting forward along the lines of Brad Staubitz, who underwent the same transformation when he was here.

“Man, he’s effective,” coach Roy Sommer said of the older Pelech. “Everybody knows when he’s out there. You see a lot of opposing defensemen getting rid of the puck quick when he’s on the ice.”

Pelech spent about a month at forward last season when Worcester was hit with injuries. All told, he played 11 games there in 2011-12 and was also used once as a forward this season before Saturday night.

With Matt Pelech, John McCarthy and Bracken Kearns back from San Jose, Worcester was able to sit a few guys. Travis Oleksuk, Jimmy Bonneau, Patrick Rissmiller and Mike Banwell all got the night off.

The game featured two of the sport’s legendary coaches, with 2,330 games between them at the AHL and NHL level.

Sommer was behind the bench for his 1,156th AHL game and is third all-time in games coached in the American Hockey League. Adirondack’s coach is Terry Murray, who has coached 1,012 NHL games — 19th on that league’s all-time list — and 162 games in the AHL.

Murray’s previous AHL experience was in 1988-89 and 1989-90 with the Baltimore Skipjacks.

The coaches have a couple of other connections. Both played for the Maine Mariners in the AHL, Murray from 1977 to 1981 and Sommer in 1983-84 and 1984-85. Sommer grew up in Oakland and was a stickboy for the old NHL Seals; Murray was taken by the Seals in the seventh round of the 1970 amateur draft and played in Oakland for parts of three seasons.

The game marked the halfway point in the Sharks’ home schedule. After 19 games at the DCU Center, Worcester’s average attendance is up to 4,021, including a crowd of 6,959 Saturday night. They have moved into 23rd place in league attendance standings.

They are 5-1/2 percent behind last year. The Sharks’ average after 19 home games in 2011-12 was 4,257. It is well ahead of 2010-11 — 3,435 after 19 games — and miles ahead of 2009-10, the franchise’s low point in attendance. The 19-game average that season was just 3,166.

Brian Boucher is 3-0-0 in three start vs. the Sharks. He has stopped 68 of 71 shots in those games. … The Sharks have some rest time on the way. They do not play again until Friday night in Springfield. … This was Adirondack’s only visit here this season. Worcester’s only game in Glens Falls is on Feb. 16. … The AHL did the math and figured that 86 percent of the players on the NHL’s season-opening rosters, some 626 players, are American Hockey League alumni. Of that, 126 appeared in the AHL during the lockout. … Brodie Reid has at least one shot on goal in 24 straight games. … Worcester’s power play was blanked again, going 0 for 2. It has not converted a power-play chance in five straight games, going 0 for 17 in that span. … The Phantoms have played four games here and won three.